莫岳三十六景：旅行写作教学与葛饰北斋和梭罗式专注

36 Views of Moscow Mountain:Teaching Travel Writing and Mindfulness in the Tradition of Hokusai and Thoreau

亨利·戴维·梭罗是个旅行作家,却很少离开他的家乡。他所谓的“旅行”即对某一地方的体验,就是深切地关注其日常环境,并从多重视角看待世界,对此他在《瓦尔登湖》(1854)中有过精细的解说。受梭罗及日本木版画家葛饰北斋系列作品《富岳三十六景》(1830—1832)的启发,作者在爱达荷大学开了一门“梭罗式旅行写作”课程,并称之为“莫岳三十六景:或,在一个小地方周游——带着开放的心境及笔记本”。文章探讨该课程的哲学基础及教学策略,旨在与学生分享如何通过“遍游”爱达荷的莫斯科而真正睁开眼,以旅行者的视角重新看待世界。学生从中也磨砺了写作技巧,习得了与旅行及地方意识相关的文学与艺术传统。

American author Henry David Thoreau was a travel writer who seldom left his hometown of Concord,Massachusetts,where he lived from 1817 to 1862.His approach to“travel,”to experiencing place,was to pay deep attention to his ordinary surroundings and to view the world from multiple perspectives,as he subtly explains in Walden(1854).Inspired by Thoreau and by Japanese woodblock artist Katsushika Hokusai’s famous series of prints titled 36 Views of Mt.Fuji(1830-1832),I have developed a course in“Thoreauvian travel writing”at the University of Idaho that I call 36 Views of Moscow Mountain:Or,Traveling a Good Deal-with Open Minds and Notebooks-in a Small Place.This article explores the philosophy and pedagogical strategies for the course,which attempts to share with students the virtues of looking at the world anew,with eyes truly open,with the eyes of a traveler,by“traveling a good deal”in Moscow,Idaho.The students also refine their writing skills and learn about the literary and artistic traditions associated with travel and sense of place.